Last week, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled against terminally ill patients who desire a dignified death. The lawsuit, Morris v. New Mexico, was filed in 2012 by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, and patient rights litigator Kathryn Tucker of the Disability Rights Legal Center, on behalf of two Albuquerque oncologists, and Aja Riggs, a cancer patient living in Santa Fe.
In 2014, the New Mexico 2nd District Court ruled that aid in dying is a fundamental right protected by the New Mexico State Constitution but that decision was overturned the following year by the New Mexico Court of Appeals in a split decision. On Thursday the Court ruled against terminally ill people saying they did not have a constitutionally protected right to have a doctor help them end their own lives.
In light of this ruling, we spoke with Aja Riggs, whose terminal cancer diagnosis inspired her to be among the first to fight for the right to a dignified death in the state. We asked Aja how this ruling impacts terminally ill New Mexicans.